RSDT

Early May: cooler than usual

This year the weather has been excellent, from my point of view - not too hot at all, most unlike last year. Other than a couple of days, it's not yet been hotter than it was at the end of March. It's almost unheard of to have rain in Cyprus after mid-April. 

But one day in early May we had a thunderstorm, and torrential rain for half an hour... of which several litres came through our dining room ceiling. Then just as I'd filled up our carpet-cleaning machine with the first load of water from the floor, we had a power cut for nearly an hour - it was all over Larnaka, apparently.

The following day the daytime temperature was about 22C, with blue skies and a gentle breeze, a bit cloudy now and again. If only it would stay like that, plus or minus perhaps three or four degrees, it would be perfect! Usually by May the temperatures are over 30C all the time, except at night.

Red and pink flowers everywhere

The bougainvillea is looking really stunning! A mass of deep pink. March is known here as 'yellow month', but we all think May must be 'red/pink' month as there are also scarlet hibiscuses out, and oleanders: gorgeous - though deadly poisonous - which are either deep pink or white. Then there are geraniums and petunias everywhere. 

Petunias tend to flourish through the winter here, then die down when it gets too hot here - usually in May, but of course they've lasted longer this year as the temperatures have been cooler. Geraniums, however, grow as perennials here: far bigger than is normal in the UK, staying green all year round, flowering in late Spring and through the Summer.

Summer arrived at last

By mid-May, Summer seemed to have come here at last - not that I minded at all having a much longer Spring than usual. For March and April and the first half of May I don't think the temperatures got above 26C, and down to 17C or so at night, so very pleasant indeed. But then one day, around the middle of May, the clouds vanished, and it warmed up so within a few days it was 30C in the shade during the daytime, though still no more than about 20C at night. It could be a lot worse (and will be before very long!)

Scuba diving

No, this isn't something that we would consider, as none of us are really keen on swimming at all. But some guests came out from the UK at the end of the month, both keen swimmers. So they booked a day's scuba-diving with a local company. They went to one of the bays about an hour further East than we are. Apparently they had a very good time, with excellent instruction, and were able to see some beautiful sights underwater. Despite their enthusiasm, we're still not tempted, though!

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